Rohingya sympathizers hack Myanmar Rice Federation website

The homepage of the Myanmar Rice Federation website on September 13, 2017.

Myanmar has come under attack once again by hackers purporting to be sympathizers with the Rohingya cause. This time, the website of the Myanmar Rice Federation – the organization in charge of making rice export deals for the country – has been wiped out and replaced with a message reading: “Please pray for our brothers in Myanmar.”

The author claims to be “Muslim and Proud.” A song sung in Arabic automatically plays when the webpage is opened.

There’s a link attached to what resembles a Twitter handle at the bottom of the page, but it just leads to the Twitter homepage.

The background features an image of a Guy Fawkes mask – a universal anti-tyranny symbol popularized by the film V for Vendetta and its subsequent appropriation by the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous.

Was this hack perpetrated by members of Anonymous? Given that it has always had a nebulous membership structure, it may be fair to argue that it was. As one reporter who studied the movement put it: “If you believe in Anonymous, and call yourself Anonymous, you are Anonymous.”

This hack comes on the heels of several similar attacks launched against Myanmar government websites earlier this month. In one of them, the Dry Zone Greening Department website was emblazoned with the message: “HACKED HACKED STOP KILLING MUSLIMS IN BURMA FUCK MYNAMAR STOP KILLONG MUSIMS HACKED BY PR3D4TOR.”